Warning: Joyce has lots of words today.
We have spent the past four days at Old Bahama Bay, which often sounds like Obama Bay when it's hailed on the VHF. It's the first resort stay we've had in about two years. The resort amenities are primarily a pool, but it's a very nice pool overlooking the beach, and we've spent hours relaxing by it. The resort also has wifi, so it's been good catching up with everyone before we lose the wifi coverage for a few days. (We have a personal hot spot when we're in the states, but it doesn't work in the Bahamas). It is our understanding that John Travolta's vacation house (where his son died) is on this property. It is quite remote and would be a good place to get away from it all. We had originally planned to stay two or three nights, but seeing we don't have a strict schedule and the winds have been brisk, we decided to extend our stay to five nights. Here is Barefoot in her secure slip at Old Obama Bay:
This resort property contains about 70 condos and a marina with about 70 slips. The cost of a slip for the night is about 30% the rate for a condo, and the boaters have access to the resort amenities. That may be one reason why the marina has been close to capacity most of the time we've been here while the condos seem fairly empty. However, this has been a good weather window for boaters arrriving from the states and it is not yet 'high season' for the condos. We are curious to know what the occupancy rates will be in the more popular months, although we've been told that hurricanes followed by the recession have had a very negative impact on the area. The larger development does include some very nice houses and a lot of empty lots. You can envision the grand neighborhood (Pine Island of the Islands) that was planned, but only partially executed. Like Florida, you can see the unfulfilled ambitions that people had before the bubble burst. From these pictures, you can see that we had to fight off all of the tourists to get a place on the beach or poolside.
 |
| Bahamian men selling lobsters on the beach |
The water is incredible here! I was in awe of the indigo blue ocean water, but just as impressed by the crystal clear water here that changes colors depending on the depth and whether the bottom is sand or coral.
We went into the village yesterday. The night before, we had asked our waiter, Harold, for a recommendation for a restaurant in town. Many times, the response will be, this is the best reastaurant in the area, and no alternatives will be offered. But, since there is only one eatery in the resort, and we wanted to experience the area off the tourists' beaten path, we really hoped Harold would give us an honest response. And, he did! He said if you really want some good food, you should go to Ella's which is run by my sisters; Ella was my mother's name. He gave us directions to the restaurant, but also suggested that we might want to ask for a ride into town, in order to get our bearings, and then walk back if we wanted. That was a very good suggestion. Although Harold's directions were very good, they included turn right at the liquor store. We would have missed this entirely, because the liquor store was named the Bahamian equivalent of Jones & Smith and did not say Liquor Store nor have any signs advertising different spirits as you would see in the states. And, the maps on our phones, which we have come to rely on, are useless. It finds where we are, but there are no corresponding maps on the phone. So, you are on a gird with no further detail.
When we arrived, Harold was picking up lunches for some of the staff at the resort. He had close to 20 lunches that he was delivering; we could see that this was definitely a locals' spot. While we were there, there was a constant stream of people coming for their take-out lunches. We decided to make this our dinner, and it was the BEST meal we've had in ages. We thank Harold for his honesty!
On our walk back to the marina, we saw many local people and were very impressed by their friendliness, and their welcoming greetings. This has been true of all the local people we've encountered, both in town and at the resort. We have found that the tourists are often who spoil the experience.
We are happy to finally be here in the Bahamas, and it looks like the spring, more-settled weather is coming soon. That will make it so much easier to move around and see the Abacos. We are glad that we decided to delay our crossing, even if the delay was longer than expected.
A few more views of OBB:
Joyce
Old Bahama Bay
West End
Grand Bahama
http://g.co/maps/e2twe
No comments:
Post a Comment